name that chord : the open guitar strings

People often wonder (and ask me, and I used to ponder) whether strumming the open guitar strings produces a chord. The short answer is yes: really, any conglomeration of tones is a chord. But since words are highly equivocal the question is usually meant as does strumming the open guitar strings produce a familiar triadic chord? The answer is still yes (more or less).

Before ever analyzing a chord and attempting to name it we should keep in mind that context has everything to do with how a chord is named (because chords may have harmonic functions, such as in the famed II-V-I progression). Consider this analogy: what does LIVE mean? You really can't answer the question (unless you want to give every possible answer) until you see/hear the word in a sentence.

She really knows how to live.
I went to a live concert last night.

In the first sentence we have a verb (a complimentary infinitive as a matter of fact); in the second an adjective.

So we must keep this in mind when wondering about what a given harmonic structure might be named.

So here's the chord in question, the open strings of the guitar...

(By the way, if you're unfamiliar with guitar notation these pitches sound an octave lower than written -- just like a tenor clef. I say this because you don't want to try to tune a guitar to these actual pitches unless you'd like to break your strings.)

There are 2 easy ways to analyze this chord completely out of context.

If it occurred in a tonal harmonic situation we could call it an E minor 7 add 11. We have all the notes of an E minor 7th: e, g, b, d as well as an a which is either the 4th or the 11th. Since 4s are usually sus let's just call this an add 11 -- that is we're viewing it as an extension of the triad. If there were an f# in the chord -- the 9th -- it would simply be an Eminor11. Another reason that this chord is e-ish is because there are 2 es. Nevertheless we don't have a context, and it isn't completely out of the question that the chord is not a G major (g, b, d) with an added 6 and 9 (e and a respectively) over an e.

But this chord is also even easier to analyze if we consider it as a quartal chord -- i.e. a chord built out of the interval of a perfect fourth (as opposed to thirds). In this case the lowest note (e, also the highest tone in the structure) is not the root. If we re-arrange the tones (and delete any repeats -- this is an abstraction for analysis) we can order them as: b, e, a, d, g -- five tones all a perfect 4th away from one another. When this chord shows up in the beginning of (say) Ginastera's Guitar Sonata it's probably best to assume that it's quartal and not triadic -- although other possibilities abound

Lastly (for our purposes) this could be part of a set of tones, for instance it could be a structure in a 12-tone piece (though with a duplication of a pitch class). In any situation like this it wouldn't get a name at all: it would simply be described numerically, such as (from low to high):
4 9 2 7 11 4. (This really depends upon what the reference pitch is: I've made C = 0 here, but it wouldn't have to be at all).

No matter what you call or how you describe it the chord sounds good...use it!

professor edwardo avarado

This actually ties in with the whole space age pop/exotica thing. You won't have to take the subway here in NYC too often to run into this guy: Professor Edwardo Alvarado (name taken from his banner). The clip is from Union Square, but I've seen him most often at 34th street and yesterday at Times Square (on the platform above the 7-train). I dig it but dude be creepy: or at least his act. Something about dolls gyrating about all on their seemingly own that is a little disquieting. But a memorable act nonetheless.



I came across the clip at this plog. But in youtube search for Professor Alvarado: he has many admirers!

tetrachords ii

So here's a little more concerning tetrachords. So far we've accrued 3 different tetrachords (with notes starting on C for analysis):

major tetrachord (C D E F)
minor tetrachord (C D Eb F)
phrygian tetrachord (C Db Eb F)

And we've been able to put those together as a pair to form a scale/mode in 9 different ways:

Major Scale (maj tet + maj tet)
Mixolydian (maj tet + min tet)
Dorian (min tet + min tet)
Phrygian (phryg tet + phryg tet)
Aeolian (min tet + phryg tet)
Melodic Minor (min tet + maj tet)
Neapolitan Major (phryg tet + maj tet)
Dorian b2 (phryg tet + min tet)
Mixolydian b6 (maj tet + phryg tet)

If we add just one more tetrachord we'll be able to up our total to 16 different scales. So let's add one which we'll call the harmonic tetrachord. It's the upper tetrachord of the harmonic minor scale, and looks like this taken out of a C harmonic minor context:
So with this tetrachord we can add the following scales to our syllabus:

Harmonic Minor (min tet + harm tet)
Harmonic Major (maj tet + harm tet)
Double Harmonic (harm tet + harm tet)
Neapolitan Minor (phryg tet + harm tet)
Ionian b2 (harm tet + maj tet)^FN1
Mixolydian b2 (harm tet + min tet) [mode v of harmonic major]
Phrygian Dominant (harm tet + phryg tet) [mode v of harmonic minor]


Next time? One more tetrachord...

----------

1. This is a very rare mode and I haven't yet been able to locate it in a scale syllabus -- in fact the Ionian b2 name is just one I gave it as it is purely descriptive.

let's make a deal...

OK, so your band gets its first gig. You tell all your friends and hopefully get a lot of bodies to show up when you play. But here's the thing: what if you want to keep your performing chops up and you want to go out every week and play? All those friends who showed up to your first gig may not (probably won't) show up at every gig if the frequency is weekly or bi-weekly. Maybe monthly. Maybe.

Whether you're "good" or not has no bearing on a club's interest in you. If you can bring people through the door then you count. You'll be asked back, etc.

That's fair, I do suppose. Consider the following: a great band (let's just stipulate that it's great, however you would measure it) shows up to a club with absolutely NO audience. A mediocre band shows up and brings in some people. The first band just seems lazy. Honestly, if they're not interested or if they're simply incapable of bringing a crowd then why should anyone else care to do so for them? It's not an irrational position.

Having said that, however, it does seem that the same standard should apply to clubs themselves. They obviously have more leverage, but the principle is the same: if they're not interested in promoting themselves all the time why should anyone else do it? It seems that certain clubs (not all) have simply shirked their responsibility upon the bands that they "hire". These are the venues that are going to be empty if no band shows up. Again, why would anyone want to help them do what they don't want to do?

So I say let's make a deal: both parties involved should really, really make a commitment to bringing in the most people possible. Bands then get to play in front of people and clubs get to sell more drinks, food, whatever. Totally win-win.

tetrachords i

I mentioned tetrachords in passing before. Tetra in Greek means four, and chordos means string, but as in a lyre (or harp) string, so we can also read this as note. We won't go into Greek music theory here (where the 2 outside parts of the tetrachord were constant while the middle two changed): suffice to say that a tetrachord is 4 contiguous notes. I'd say it's a perfect 4th, but we're going to use the tetrachord as a way of analyzing parts of modes/scales, and in the instance of the Lydian mode (say) it's an augmented 4th.

A major scale (or any 7-note scale) can be seen as 2 disjunct (not overlapping) tetrachords:

In this case both tetrachords are a P4 in span, and are exactly the same in terms of intervals:
W, W, H, or M2, M2, m2. Let's call this the major tetrachord.
A major scale therefore = major tetrachord + major tetrachord.

If we examine a melodic minor scale we see these 2 tetrachords:

These tetrachords are different: the lower one is M2, m2, M2. Let's call this the minor tetrachord. The upper tetrachord is the same as in the major scale. So we can say that a melodic minor scale is a minor tetrachord + major tetrachord.

If we stick with just these 2 types of tetrachords let's see what other combinations we can can come up with.

Try a minor tetrachord + minor tetrachord:
Look familiar? This is the Dorian mode.


How about a major tetrachord + minor tetrachord:
This is the Mixolydian mode.

Let's look at one more scale today: the natural minor/aeolian.
Here the lower tetrachord is the familiar minor tetrachord but the upper one is different. Based on the Phrygian mode (with it's lowered 2nd and 3rd) let's call this the phrygian tetrachord.
So a natural minor/aeolian scale is a minor tetrachord + phrygian tetrachord.

In fact the Phrygian mode can be seen as 2 phrygian tetrachords:

By adding this third type of tetrachord let's see what scales we can generate. Play these so that you can hear them:

major tetrachord + phrygian tetrachord = Mixolydian b6 (mode V of a melodic minor scale).

phrygian tetrachord + major tetrachord = Neapolitan Major

phrygian tetrachord + minor tetrachord = Dorian b2 (mode II of a melodic minor scale).

So from just 3 different tetrachords we've been able to come up with 9 different modes. In fact I discussed this with a physicist friend of mine who informed me that the formula for determining how n objects can be arranged into a pair is simply n². We could, therefore, arrange 6 different tetrachords into 36 different scales!

I bring up tetrachords because since they're small they're easier to deal with conceptually. Also, at least for guitarists a tetrachord is easy to finger, and therefore it's easy to string them together. Try playing a major tetrachord starting on C then play a major tetrachord starting on G: you get the major scale (as above) and it's super easy to play.

Next tetrachord session we'll look at the Harmonic Minor and Lydian modes to see what tetrachords they possess and what we can generate then with all of our various tetrachords.

soul of the machine

I bought this cd back in 1987 and at the time, being a through-and-through metal head/classical freak I didn't love it immediately. It's grown on me: actually I totally got into it before long. The cover must be of a Roland Alpha-Juno-type dial:


If you're not familiar with it the cd is a "Windham Hill Sampler" of electronic music. It's filled with awesome music, and it leads-off with Mitchel Forman's Rizzo. Mitch is a complete bad ass keyboardist, and you know this is gospel truth because he performed in one of the 80s incarnations of the Mahavishnu Orchestra (and you don't get to play with John McLaughlin unless you are a complete bad ass). One of my favorite tunes is Ayers Rock by Colin Chin, which has a very dark quality (and also seems as if it would be usable as a great soundtrack). And the last tune Shadows of the Earth (Roy Finch) also is darkish and quite alluring and captivating.

Other faves: Water Trade, which has a nice contrast of mood, and the main theme of which seems to draw some inspiration from Chinese music. Time and the River and Land of the Morning Calm are great tunes to have wash over you. Just let it happen.

All the music is fairly imaginative, well-crafted, with lots of layers. It fits well within the Windham Hill endeavor (by my reading) of making meditative, ambient music -- often with a view to healing (life is filled with real loss, after all). And I completely admit to not knowing most of the musicians on this cd. Worth looking into...

emotional states

Whatever a human being is, he/she is at least a collection of emotional/psychological states. And these states are influenced by many things: foods, drugs (from caffeine to acid) and even strings of words and sounds. It's easy to predict the effect of arsenic on a person, and slightly harder but still predictable are strings of words (such as "I love you" or "I never want to see you again," etc.) The predictability of music is still harder. There is no decided meaning that's connected universally with harmonic, melodic, rhythmic structures. Plus there's the issue of nostalgia and memory: music can trigger emotions based upon past experiences. Certain tunes might remind one of the Jetsons cartoon or a former friend/lover.

Many Zen adepts were prompted into enlightenment by hearing the sound of, say, a pebble hitting bamboo. I can easily imagine an alien race that is far superior to us being able to concoct music that would elicit pure joy, sorrow, elation and despair, in any person, regardless of age, sex, race, etc.

And when we can elicit (more) precisely the emotional/psychological states that we desire we will be real artists/magicians.